The 38th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army and part of the Indiana National Guard. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and contains Army National Guard units from across the Midwest.
Formed in 1917, the division's special designation "Cyclone" refers to when the division's training camp at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, was damaged by a tornado. It is also nicknamed "Avengers of Bataan" due to its efforts during the Pacific War in World War II.
Deployed to France in the closing days of the Great War, the 38th Division was broken up to fill vacancies in units already in combat. After the war, the 38th Division demobilized. After a brief period of inactivity, it was reconstituted and reorganized in the National Guard on 16 March 1923.
The 38th Division was inducted into federal service on 17 January 1941 as the United States prepared for entry into World War II. The Division returned to Camp Shelby to reorganize as a triangular infantry division and train for combat. The 38th Infantry Division deployed to the Pacific theater in January 1944, initially to New Guinea where the division saw limited combat after final training. In December, the division deployed into Leyte, Philippines to support clearing and security operations. On 29 January 1945, the 38th Infantry Division took part in the combat landing against the Japanese held Southern Zambales Province on the island of Luzon. Afterwards, the 38th Infantry Division took part in the operations to clear Zig Zag Pass and the Bataan peninsula, and to secure Corregidor and Manila Bay. In recognition of their contributions in clearing the Philippines, the 38th Infantry Division received the nickname "The Avengers of Bataan".
Quickly demobilized after World War II, the 38th Infantry Division was reorganized and federally recognized on 5 March 1947 at Indianapolis, Indiana. During the intervening years, the 38th Infantry Division underwent numerous reorganizations while still retaining the designation as an infantry division. The 38th Infantry Division headquarters mobilized in support of Hurricane Katrina relief operations in 2005, exercising command and control over all National Guard elements deployed in the state of Mississippi. Since 11 September 2001, units of the division have participated in Operation Enduring Freedom (in Kuwait, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Cuba, and the Horn of Africa) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2009, the 38th Infantry Division provided a headquarters element (designated Task Force Cyclone) to command and control counterinsurgency operations in Regional Command East, Afghanistan from August 2009 through June 2010.
The 38th Infantry Division headquarters had responsibility for the domestic all-hazards response team (DART) mission in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the event of a major incident in the eastern half of the United States.
Most recently the 38th Infantry Division headquarters deployed in support of Operation Spartan Shield (OSS) in 2019 and 2024. Operation Spartan Shield includes operations in Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE). 38th Infantry Division Soldiers have also supported COVID-19 relief operations, as well as civil disturbance operations in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.
History World War I The 38th Infantry Division's headquarters was activated at Camp Shelby on 25 August 1917, almost five months after the American entry into World War I, composed of units drawn from Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Major General William H. Sage, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Philippine–American War was its first commander. With new naming conventions issued by the War Department, National Guard regiments were given three-digit numbers from 101 through 300 (for example, the 1st Indiana Infantry Regiment became the 151st Infantry Regiment), and National Guard divisions were numbered from 26 through 75. Troops began to arrive at Camp Shelby, Mississippi for training in September. Once there, the 38th Division was organized into a "square" division, centered around two infantry brigades; the 75th Infantry Brigade and the 76th Infantry Brigade, the 138th, 139th, and 163rd Field Artillery Regiments, the 113th Engineer Regiment, the 113th Sanitary Train, and a separate signal battalion.
After constructing their base camp at Camp Shelby, the 38th Infantry Division began training in October. Equipment for training was chronically short, however, forcing leaders to fabricate dummy artillery pieces from wood and iron scrap, while the soldiers drilled with pieces of wood to simulate rifles and machine guns. In April 1918, a tornado struck Camp Shelby, damaging the division's camp and killing one soldier, PVT Vaughn D. Beekman. On his assumption of command of the 38th Division on 30 August 1918, Major General Robert Lee Howze commemorated the tornado by announcing the division would be known in the future as the "Cyclone Division".Webster (1966), pp.28–29
The division arrived in France in October, at the height of the Meuse–Argonne offensive. Upon arrival, the division was largely stripped of officers and men, who served as replacements for other units of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) already in combat. Several of the regiments remained intact and conducted operations behind friendly lines. The 113th Engineer Battalion constructed railroads, telegraph and telephone wires. The 138th and 139th Field Artillery took part in collective training when the Armistice with Germany took effect on 11 November 1918.
Of the officers and men from the 38th Division detailed to other units, 301 died during the Great War: 105 died in combat; 47 died from wounds; 68 from non-combat accidents or incidents; and 81 from complications arising from influenza or pneumonia.Webster (1966), p.33
Commanders: Maj. Gen. William H. Sage (25 August 1917), Brig. Gen. Edward M. Lewis, ad interim, (19 September 1917), Brig. Gen. H. H. Whitney, ad interim, (8 November 1917), Maj. Gen. William H. Sage (12 December 1917), Brig. Gen. William H. Sage (15 March 1918), Brig. Gen. William V. Judson, ad interim, (15 April 1918), Brig. Gen. Augustine McIntyre Jr., ad interim, (12 July 1918), Brig. Gen. F. M. Caldwell, ad interim, (18 July 1918), Maj. Gen. Robert L. Howze (30 August 1918), Brig. Gen. F. M. Caldwell, ad interim, (18 October 1918), Maj. Gen. Robert L. Howze (27 October 1918). Inactivated: June 1919.
Interwar period After the end of the World War, the National Guard divisions briefly remained inactive while the United States rapidly demobilized and returned to a peacetime footing. The experiences of the war convinced the War Department and Congress to retain a reserve structure in the event of a future war. A series of amendments to the National Defense Act of 1916 codified the structure of the Army of the United States to include the National Guard when in federal service. Within the text of the final amendment of August 1921 was the provision to "preserve the names, numbers and other designations, flags and records of the divisions...that served in the World War".
At the company level, the first units were organized by spring 1921; by November 1921 the Indiana National Guard had approximately 4,000 soldiers in an active drilling status. Higher-level actions took longer, with the 38th Division headquarters not organized and federally recognized until March 1923, with Major General Robert H. Tyndall as the division commander. Tyndall well embodied the citizen-soldier concept. During the World War, Tyndall earned the Distinguished Service Medal and Croix de Guerre for his successful combat leadership of the 150th Field Artillery. In peacetime, he served as a bank vice-president and was deeply engaged in the organization of the American Legion. The majority of the divisional structure was allotted to Indiana, with the divisional headquarters established in Indianapolis. Besides the headquarters, the 76th Infantry Brigade (with the 151st and 152nd Infantry Regiments), 139th and 150th Field Artillery Regiments, and the 113th Engineer Regiment were allotted solely to Indiana. Kentucky organized the 75th Infantry Brigade (149th Infantry Regiment; the 150th Infantry was earmarked for West Virginia) and the 138th Field Artillery Regiment. The medical, quartermaster, and division special troops elements were divided among Indiana and Kentucky.
The designated mobilization training center for the “Cyclone Division” was Camp Knox, Kentucky, where much of the division's training activities occurred between the wars. The 38th Division was fortunate in that it was one of the few multistate divisions that had the opportunity to train together each summer prior to World War II, and the entire division (except West Virginia's 150th Infantry) conducted its summer camp most years at Camp Knox from 1923 to 1939. For the 1936 camp, the division participated in the Fifth Corps Area phase of the Second Army maneuvers at Fort Knox. During that maneuver, the 38th Division operated as part of the provisional V Corps against the 10th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division. Additionally, the division staff participated in the Fifth Corps Area command post exercise (CPX) in May 1929 and in the Second Army CPX in September 1938 at Fort Knox. In 1940, the entire “Cyclone” Division again participated in the Second Army maneuvers, this time near Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. In addition to summer training, the entire division, less the West Virginia elements, was called up for flood relief duty in January and February 1937 when the Ohio River overflowed in one of the worst floods in its history.
World War II WWII division organization Square division On 17 January 1941, the 38th Division was inducted into federal service at home stations and then moved to Camp Shelby in Mississippi, where it arrived on 26 January 1941. At the time the division still retained its World War I square organization and consisted of the following units.
38th Division, in Indianapolis (IN) 38th Division Headquarters 75th Infantry Brigade, in Bowling Green (KY) Headquarters and Headquarters Company, in Bowling Green (KY) 149th Infantry Regiment, in Louisville (KY) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3× Infantry battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3× Rifle companies, 1× Weapons Company Anti-Tank Company (M3 37mm Anti-Tank guns) Service Company 150th Infantry Regiment, in Welch (WV) same organization as 149th Infantry Regiment 76th Infantry Brigade, in Shelbyville (IN) Headquarters and Headquarters Company, in Shelbyville (IN) 151st Infantry Regiment, in Indianapolis (IN) same organization as 149th Infantry Regiment 152nd Infantry Regiment, in Indianapolis (IN) same organization as 149th Infantry Regiment 63rd Field Artillery Brigade, in Louisville (KY) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, in Louisville (KY) 138th Field Artillery Regiment, Louisville (KY) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Light Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1897 75mm field guns), replaced by M2 105mm towed howitzers in 1941) Service Battery 139th Field Artillery Regiment, in Indianapolis (IN) same organization as 138th Field Artillery Regiment 150th Field Artillery Regiment, in Indianapolis (IN) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Medium Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1918 155mm towed howitzers, replaced by M1 155mm towed howitzers in 1941) Anti-Tank Battery (M1897 75mm anti-tank guns) Service Battery 113th Engineer Regiment, in Gary (IN) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company 2× Engineer battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Engineer companies 113th Medical Regiment, in Indianapolis (IN) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company